Bocho issues casting call for 'token white' roles

Published: Thursday, July 29, 1999

Knight Ridder

PASADENA, Calif. Wanted: Two token whites for CBS's "City of Angels."

Apply to Steven Bochco.

Creator Bochco says all roles for his new predominantly African American medical drama have been cast except for "two token whites" one, a Jewish resident, and the other, the Irish board chairman of Angel of Mercy Hospital.

"I feel the irony in that phrase, but I get a kick out of it," says Bochco, who is white, in an interview during the TV critics' tour.

"The expression 'token black' is already part of the language, when you see so many shows that have one black actor in some small role."

More than 75 percent of "Angels"' cast is African American, with the remainder "other" races, including Asian, Latino and Indian, says co-executive producer Paris Barclay, a director on Bochco's drama "NYPD Blue."

In addition, two-thirds of the crew is black.

Barclay, an African American, is also tickled by the "token white" thing.

"It's the way we have internally described the roles. I didn't think Steven would discuss it externally. It's kind of amusing. We've been looking at almost 200 African American actors, then there's these couple of white roles. They're last on the list. It's sort of weird.

"It's an unusual turnabout," laughs Barclay, a Harvard graduate. "This show is really about African American heroes, and that's the news. The more you mix up that idea, the more diffuse and weak the premise becomes."

His first attempt, "Paris," starring James Earl Jones as an L.A. police detective, lasted just five months on CBS in 1979.

(P.S. Warren was in that one, too.)

Racheting up the heat another notch is the major networks' dismal programming record on racial diversity.

Though Bochco's acclaimed series have all featured racially mixed casts, he knows there's a lot of weight on "Angels' " wings.

"I'm nervous about this one because there's a lot riding on it in terms of social issues and opening doors for minorities.

"In television, success succeeds. If you don't succeed, it gets tougher to push those doors open."

While Barclay and Bochco hope "Angels" will have broad appeal, Barclay acknowledges "there are some white folks who won't watch anything but white folks."

On the other hand, Barclay said, "if they can relate to (mixed-cast series) 'ER' and 'Chicago Hope,' they should be able to relate to 'City of Angels,' unless race is so much of an issue for them they can't see black people in the same heroic roles they've accepted from Caucasians in the past."

Barclay points to NBC's classic "St. Elsewhere" (1982-88) as a model for a mixed-race hospital drama.

"When they decided to cast a major black doctor, they got Denzel Washington. He had just done 'Carbon Copy.' He was nobody.

"The next year, they brought in a love interest for him, a young actress, Alfre Woodard. They grew up to be pretty solid actors.

"I'm hoping to find the same kind of people. We may have already."

Comedy, however, appears to be, well, a horse of a different color.

Like many African Americans, Barclay never got the joke on NBC's all-white "Seinfeld," for years the most popular show in the country among whites and one of the least-watched by blacks.

"I didn't get that show. I never got it. I don't understand why it's funny, and Jason Alexander (George) is a friend of mine. I tried to watch it because everyone else was watching it, and I just didn't laugh. I didn't think anything they did was funny. I felt left out."

Bottom line for "Angels," Barclay says, is quality.

"If you do a really good show first, you don't have to wear race on your sleeve 'You're white. You're black. I hate you.'

"The drama of the show has to be compelling. Everyone has a mother who's sick. Everyone knows someone living with AIDS or battling drugs.